Rockett's Secret Invitation
Rockett's Secret Invitation is a visual novel computer game and the third installment in the Rockett series. It was developed and published by''' Purple Moon 'in 1998. Gameplay While it retains the same core gameplay as ''Tricky Decision, Secret Invitation introduces the Truth Glasses, a pair of psychic glasses belonging to Mavis that allow the player to hear the thoughts of characters in select scenes in the story. They can be accessed by clicking on the locker icon when the glasses appear on it, and playing a small "treasure hunt" minigame on the Hidden Hallway screen. Plot The game takes place on Thursday, December 17th, the day before Winter/Holiday Break. Upon opening her locker before homeroom, Rockett finds an elaborately decorated orange note from the CSGs wishing her a happy birthday and telling her to come to the art room at noon for a secret meeting. Depending on the player choice, it's revealed in a conversation with either Meg, Ginger, or Mr. Baldus that Rockett's birthday is not actually that day. After the conversation, Arnold approaches, also wishing her a happy birthday and telling her about his gift: a purple orchid from his mother's garden. Mavis approaches the two, warning Rockett that her "secrets are coming back to haunt her" and that she's heading for trouble. At the meeting, Miko, Nakili, and Dana make Rockett swear that she won't tell anyone what goes on in the meeting. When she does, they reveal that they were all born under the zodiac sign Sagittarius and that they want her to join the CSGs. (In one choice, Ruben crashes the meeting and asks Rockett why she's there before being shooed away.) No matter how she reacts to the invitation, the CSGs give Rockett the rest of the day to think about joining. They agree to meet in the library after school so Rockett can tell them her final answer and take the CSG Loyalty Oath. Once the CSGs leave, Bo, now a hall monitor, appears and starts to write Rockett up for being late to class. Depending on how she reacts, Rockett will either be sent to Principal Herrera's office, be saved by Mr. Rarebit and head to the yearbook office, or saved by Jessie and go to with her to their language arts class. Principal Herrera's Office After talking to either Ruben, Viva, or Max for a bit, Principal Herrera writes Rockett a hall pass and notices that something is bothering her. (Both Ruben and Viva have heard about the secret meeting Rockett has been invited to. While Rockett teases Max for wanting to find Jessie.) Herrera asks her if she wants to talk about it. If she refuses, Herrera scolds her for her attitude and threatens to schedule her an appointment with the guidance counselor, Dr. Wheatgrass. But ultimately concides that she can't make Rockett talk about her problems, gives her a hall pass, and tells her she's always free to talk. In the office, Rockett accuses Cleve, who has just shown up, of eavesdropping. He wasn't, though he is aware of her meeting with the CSGs. He notes that she doesn't need to hook up with them when she has The Ones on her side. Especially since she has him to put in a good word for her. Rockett isn't sure if he's complimenting or threatening her. If Rockett decides to tell her, but doesn't elaborate, she'll eventually backtrack and say that the situation will be resolved by the end of the day. After leaving the office, she runs into Stephanie, who offers to walk her to the nurse's office, then accuses her of having something important to someone, i.e. the diary that she lost. When Rockett says it has to do with the CSGs, Stephanie declares the whole situation to be "unglamorous" and walks away. If she elaborates, Mrs. Herrera tells her about the damage she's seen cliques do to people. Unbeknownst to the two, Dana overhears them. Yearbook Office After convincing Bo to give him Rockett's citation, Mr. Rarebit tells her to check in at the yearbook office sometime during the day to see how her latest pictures turned out. In the office, Rockett comes across Darnetta, also a photographer, working on some pictures. In one choice, Rockett asks her for advice about the CSG situation, without naming names. Darnetta tells her that she doesn't need friends who require her to be a certain way for them to like her. She then leaves either with Jessie or to find Jessie so they can plan out the trip to California that they're taking with Jessie's family over vacation. (Rockett tries to hide her disappointment that Jessie has another friend.) In two choices, Rockett tells herself to go get "that thing" from her locker so she can give it back to its rightful owners before heading to computer lab. The "thing" is the secret notebook that she found in the bathroom on the first day of school. It belongs to the CSGs. Mrs. Tinydahl's Class In their language arts class, Mrs. Tinydahl tries fruitlessly to calm the class down. In one choice, she sends Rockett and Jessie to their desks work on a quiz about a story they read the week before. In the other two, Rockett is grouped up with Arrow, Sharla, and Arnold to work on poetry. In the poetry group, Arnold shares a poem he wrote (both featuring a UFO). In one choice, Rockett sarcastically compliments him. Sharla chews her out, pointing out that, while it is bad, she hasn't tried to write her own poem. When Arnold calls her the birthday girl in his hysterics, Rockett reveals that it is not her birthday and offers to give the orchid back to him. He tells her to keep it. In another, Sharla reads her poem: a dark, moody verse about longing for someone and being alone. Rockett is astounded at how good it is and says as much. (Sharla doesn't believe her.) Rockett then recites a short poem about being worried over something before the class bell rings. In the story group, Rockett thanks Jessie for distracting Bo. Jessie says it's no big deal, since Bo is always nice to her. She mentions another thing that's bothering her (the CSG meeting), but says she can't tell her about it. But she can tell her about the CSG notebook that she has and shows it to her. (Rockett wrote her a note earlier in the day asking to talk to her about it.) Jessie tells her that she has to give it back. Nicole, overhearing them, interrupts them and demands to know what it is they're talking about. Assuming it's the diary that Stephanie lost, Nicole angrily demands that Rockett give it back to her. Both her and Jessie insist that it has nothing to do with her, but she doesn't believe them. The class bells rings and cuts her tirade off. The Rest of the Day No matter which scenario happens, Rockett will go to computer class afterwards. During class, Dana confronts Rockett after either hearing Rockett talk to Chaz about the book she found, after she is hesitant to enter her birthday into the computer, or when Jessie tells Darnetta about the book Rockett found. No matter what happens, Dana leaves angrily and tells Miko and Nakili what happened. At the meeting in the library, Rockett confesses that she is not a Sagittarius and the girls announce that she is no longer eligible to be a CSG. No matter how Rockett reacts, they are all shocked when Rockett hands their secret notebook back to them, but eventually agree that they are all still friends. The CSGs then head for the bus, leaving Rockett alone. From there, she can decide to go to the Bird Cage and straight home, try to find Jessie in the music room, or go wait in the cafeteria until her ride shows up. The Bird Cage In the Bird Cage, Rockett comes across Sharla and Bo waiting for their ride to a "pre-holiday" party. After some banter, they invite her to come along. But when their ride comes, Rockett chickens out. As they pull away, Sharla wishes her a happy holidays, and Rockett wishes to herself that the new year goes better than her day did. The Music Room In the music room, Rockett finds Ruben, Wolf, Arrow, Viva, and Ginger having an impromptu jam session. Despite her insistance that she's not a musician, the group convinces her to join in on the drums. After playing for a while, Mavis appears in the doorway. At this point, Rockett can choose how to react to her. If she mentally wishes for her to go away, Mavis will sense it and leave on the verge of tears. The rest of the group becomes angry at her for scaring Mavis off. After Baldus comes in, improvises a song, and loses his toupee, the group leaves. Rockett notes that the group pretty much ignored her and that she should've been nicer to Mavis. If she welcomes her in, Mavis joins in on the conga drums and assures Rockett that, even if this day didn't go that well, she senses that things will get better for her. In the third choice, Mavis comes in despite Rockett mentally telling her not to. Mavis reveals that she came to talk to Rockett, points out that she could have avoided all of the trouble she got in if she had just listened to her, and asks if she's using the elf rune. The group convinces her to let Mavis join in, which she eventually agrees to and apologizes. As a token of goodwill, Rockett gives her a fox head keychain as a gift. Mavis invites Rockett over to her house over vacation. Choosing the last choice after selecting noting but "happy/confident" choices throughout the game will give the player a... Hidden Scene After the jam session, Ruben approaches Rockett at her locker and hands her a present: a silver frog pendant with some music lyrics. The Cafeteria Rockett comes across Cleve, Chaz, and Max talking in the cafeteria. Cleve asks her if she'sokay, since she looks down. Rockett just tells them that it hasn't been one of her best days. She then shows them her photo album, including some pictures she took of them at the beginning of the year. As they talk about how much they like it, the Ones appear. If she doesn't act scared and shy away, the Ones eventually get a look at her photo album and love it. In one choice, Nicole offers to buy a picture of herself from Rockett and offers to have Rockett do something over the vacation with them. In another, after noticing that there are no pictures of Rockett in her album, Nicole takes a picture of the whole group. Images secretinvitation-jewelcase.png|Jewel case secretinvitation-cd.png|CD art secret-mattelcd.jpg|CD Art - Mattel version Manual secretmanual-cover.png secretmanual-1.png secretmanual-2to3.png secretmanual-4to5.png secretmanual-6to7.png secretmanual-8to9.png secretmanual-10to11.png secretmanual-12to13.png secretmanual-14to15.png secretmanual-16to17.png secretmanual-18to19.png secretmanual-20to21.png secretmanual-backcover.png External Links *[https://archive.org/details/rocketts-secret-invitation Rockett's Secret Invitation on Internet Archive] *[https://macintoshgarden.org/games/rocketts-secret-invitation Rockett's Secret Invitation on Macintosh Garden] References Category:Rockett Series Category:Games